1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to techniques for helping individuals emotionally so as to improve their learning capability and, more particularly, is concerned with an educational system, method and doll for teaching individuals their emotions employing sets of faces expressing different emotions with plural states.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are basically four balances or equilibriums to be maintained in every person to enhance his or her learning capability for productive human growth and development. These equilibriums are a person""s medical, physical, emotional and intellectual well-being. When only one is unbalanced or in disequilibrium, it can have a disruptive influence on learning capability and potential.
An individual""s emotional equilibrium has proven to be one of the most difficult to teach about and restore, especially in the case of children. Children have particular difficulty expressing and dealing with negative thoughts and feelings which they often equate with being xe2x80x9cbadxe2x80x9d and for which they feel guilt. One approach to helping children express emotions is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,927 to Newman. The Newman patent discloses four facial panels for a doll-like figure which a child can interchange. Three of the four facial panels depict negative emotions of anger, sadness and fear. The fourth panel depicts the positive emotion of happiness. The doll-like figure provides the child with a non-threatening object to either identify with or to use to display observed feelings without feeling guilty of being xe2x80x9cbadxe2x80x9d.
While the approach of the Newman patent appears to be a step in the right direction, its identification of only four emotions and provision of only four facial panels to address these emotions is believed to be an over-simplification of the emotions involved and an inadequate solution for overcoming these kinds of difficulties faced by children. Further, the Newman patent provides substantial uniformity in size of each of the same facial features making up the four facial panels. Whereas the shapes of these same facial features are correlated with the emotions displayed, there appears to be no correlation between the particular emotion displayed and the sizes of the same facial features from one facial panel to the next.
Consequently, a need still remains for an innovation that will provide a more comprehensive in-depth solution to dealing with the above-described difficulties of children without introducing other problems in place thereof.
The present invention provides an educational system, method and doll for teaching individuals, particularly children, their emotions so as to overcome the potential shortcomings of prior art approaches and to fulfill the aforementioned need. The educational system, method and doll of the present invention employ a multiplicity of sets of faces that have different facial expressions displaying different emotions each with a plurality of states. Underlying the educational system, method and doll of the present invention is a recognition by the inventor herein that there are a multiplicity of emotions and for each emotion there is a plurality of states each having a different facial expression, namely, subdued, normal and exaggerated states.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an educational system for teaching individuals their emotions which comprises: (a) at least one and preferably a multiplicity of sets of faces; (b) each of the sets of faces being correlated with a respective one of a multiplicity of different emotions experienced by individuals from time to time; and (c) for each of the different emotions correlated with a respective set of faces, a plurality of states of the emotion are defined in the form of a different facial expression on each of the faces of the respective set thereof.
More particularly, each set of faces contains three faces. The facial expression on each face includes a plurality of facial features thereon. The facial features may include eyes, eyebrows, a mouth and a nose. The facial features of the facial expression on each of the faces of a respective set thereof differ in their relative sizes from one state to another for each emotion expressed. The facial expression on each face of the respective set thereof also includes a circle surrounding the facial features. The facial features of the facial expression on each of the faces of the respective set thereof differ in their sizes relative to the circle from one face to another of the respective set and thus from one state to another for each emotion expressed.
The present invention is also directed to an educational method for teaching individuals their emotions which comprises the steps of: (a) providing a multiplicity of different sets of faces with each set being correlated with one of a multiplicity of different emotions experienced by individuals from time to time; (b) selecting at least a pair of faces from different ones of the sets; (c) displaying the faces of the pair thereof on each of a succession of substrates; and (d) changing the faces of the pair thereof so as to switch emphasis between the faces on the succession of substrates.
More particularly, the faces are displayed on upper left and lower right diagonal portions of the substrate or one of the faces is displayed on a central portion of the substrate. The faces also are alternately displayed on successive ones of the substrates. The faces differ in size and progressively change in size from substrate to substrate.
The present invention is also directed to an educational doll providing a substrate to which selected ones of the faces can be applied. The doll comprises: (a) a body having upper and lower portions; (b) a head attached on the upper portion of the body; (c) a plurality of limbs; (d) means for attaching the limbs respectively to the upper and lower portions of the body; and (e) at least one of the limbs having a stretchable connector assembly and a limb portion attached thereto such that the connector assembly and limb portion allows the limb to be gripped and pulled away from the body and released and return back toward the body. The connector assembly includes a fan folded section connected to the limb portion and a connector strip of elastic stretchable material extending from the body through the fan folded section to the limb portion.
More particularly, the limbs include a pair of arms, one of the arms having a fan folded section therein and a pair of legs, one of the legs having a fan folded section therein. The means for attaching the limbs to the body includes complementary sets of fastening elements which are connectible to and disconnectible from one another for detachably attaching at least some of the limbs to the body.
Furthermore, at least one of the limbs and the head has a swivel element connected thereto permitting grasping of the swivel element and rotating of the doll relative to the swivel element. Also, at least one of the legs has a foot and an elastic band with a ring element attached thereto and the band secured over the foot to permit grasping of the foot via the ring element.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.